The Big Blue Daily Mail -- All the News That's Fit for Wildcats

by Truzenzuzex on Jun 9, 2009 7:53 PM EDT in News Comment 28 comments

Today, as you might expect on the first day back from a vacation, I was, as the saying goes amongst a restaurant waitstaff, "in the weeds." It is always tough coming back from vacation after having essentially ignored your real work for a week, but it was well worth it -- I enjoyed every minute of my time on the beach.

Today, there is surprisingly little to talk about other than the fact that the whole, "John Calipari 24/7/365," is finally beginning to settle down into something vaguely resembling a regular news day. That doesn't mean that there isn't any news -- Dicky Lyons Jr. made some news today when he told us about his plans, and we are beginning to gradually move toward NCAA football season, which should begin to ramp up here in the very near future.

Speaking of football, there is a much talked-about article on Sports Illustrated's website entitled, "How Rich Brooks made football relevant for Kentucky Wildcats fans." It has been linked early and often around the UK and even SEC blogosphere, but if you haven't had the chance to check it out yet, you should -- it is very informative and interesting.

And now, for the rest of the news:

UK Basketball News

Jodie Meeks working out for the Chicago Bulls.
Ater Majok is also, as well as many others.
Following the best not always best way to start a career
"What Cal did the past four years is not reality," Pastner said. "It's the winningest stretch in the history of college basketball. It's not realistic." Heh. Maybe he can do it again at Kentucky. I could listen to "Cheater, cheater" 10,000 times (as long as it isn't really true) if that happens. And like it. A lot.
Hot Corner: John Calipari weak on defense
All I can say is that the player in question did not cheat at Memphis. He cheated in high school before he came to Memphis. So now we should hold head coaches responsible for the entire lives of their recruits? Just askin'.
Coach Calipari’s trip to China: What does it mean for UK Basketball?
I'll just bet the Chinese will know Kentucky basketball sooner rather than later. These guys are nuts for the game.
Kyrie Irving is still open, according to True Blue Kentucky.
Many have considered him a lock for Indiana.
Rex Chapman's son is on the rise for 2011.
UK is recruiting him, as you might expect, but so are many others.
This is news?
Here at A Sea of Blue, we have been talking about Doneal Mack for days. Suddenly, it looks as if some blogs out there haven't been getting their daily dose of the Big Blue Daily Mail.
Who got the best and worst of the coaching carousel?
Rivals talks about it. John Calipari is understandably prominent.
Thoughts by John Calipari
Via Kentucky Sports Radio. Interesting comments from John Calipari on how he wants teams to play.

UK Football News

SEC 2009 // The Lexington Ledger - Team Speed Kills
Cocknfire at Team Speed Kills continues to crank out the great football stories day after day. You think that guy doesn't have a day job or something. Or maybe, he just writes really fast. Anyway, another great read.

Other UK Sports News

Scott Named Southeast Region Men's Field Athlete of the Year
Great for Rashaud Scott, and great for UK.

NCAA Sports News

Matt Snyder of Fanhouse says the NCAA is penny wise and pound foolish.
He makes a pretty good case, too.
The Loathsome Troll Jeff Goodman on Memphis' recruting success
"But the blow that carried through the recruiting landscape came this past weekend when Pastner — with the help of veteran assistant Glynn Cyprien — scored a verbal pledge from Will Barton, one of the hottest names in the Class of 2010. " Glynn Cyprien. Hmm. That name seems familiar to me ...
Heh.
Some people you just can't please. Package deals bad? Where have we heard this before? I know Antonio isn't a 5-star stud, but he is a solid three and most programs would surely take him even without his brother.
NCAA approves 3 rules changes for men's basketball
Hmm. I think all of them make sense, but the "block/charge" clarification looks like more of a non-clarification to me.
Raiders call Kiffin a liar as he piles up secondary NCAA violations.
Hilarious!
Kyle King says Lane Kiffin is not up to the task of Tennessee's head coach.
He says nothing in Kiffin's thin record suggests that he will win at Tennessee.
By The Numbers, Part 4
More interesting work on the upcoming college football season done by OverThePylon.
Academic standards are for losers.
OK, The Shark Tank doesn't say that. He does, however, represent the view of a number of college sports fans who have been jaded by the reality that neither schools nor the NCAA really care about academic standards when it comes to athletes, either. Otherwise, they would have tighter standards for monitoring the entrance exams so that players couldn't find easy ways to cheat, like letting a whole different person take their exam for them. They pretend to care, because they don't want to look like the businesspeople they really are.

College sports has become big business, and like all businesses, the bottom line is what they really care about. The academic "standards" are just to mollify those who think that college sports should be something more than just the minor league for the pros.
Trouble on the horizon for NCAA basketball
Unlike this blogger, I think high school players skipping to Europe is a good thing, and the more the merrier. We could actually wind up with something resembling college basketball again, where players actually went to college, stayed for three or four years and graduated.
Paul Hewitt demands apology from congressman, gets it - The Dagger - NCAA Hoops - Rivals.com
ESPN's Latest Obsession: The SEC
"You want Coach Cal on that wall, you need Coach Cal on that wall. Just not as much as ESPN does." I had written Clay Travis off as a perpetual laughingstock, but for once, he created an article that is actually interesting reading and even ... dare I say it ... incisive? Does this mean I have finally seen everything?

Other News of Interest

New Rules for Sports Broadcasting
I think he gets this one spot on.
What's new in iPhone 3.0
Ah, more coolness for the Apple IPhone. I love that stupid thing.

The Daily Schadenfreude

Ah, the Dookies.
They never grow tired of logically flawed arguments. And double standards. I love them so.

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Comments

Is Rex Chapman on record about Cal?

by blue oregon on Jun 9, 2009 9:31 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Filthy Lucre

Isn’t it telling that a great many (with a bit of a stretch one could say all) of the news items and opinions you cite have at their foundation: money, profit, monetary gain, fiscal benefit, or in the pejorative, filthy lucre? And isn’t such criticism and focus a sign of endemic moral idealism — much of the time externally feigned and internally absent — thus in the end amounting to a hypocritical mentality? Quite as the admonishing idiom states: People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones. And a great, great many of us abide in houses with considerable glass — especially when it comes to the pursuit of that filthy lucre.

I’m not one for using Biblical quotes but this seems like a good opportunity:

For a bishop must be blameless, as the steward of God; not self-willed, not soon angry, not given to wine, no striker, not given to filthy lucre;
8 but a lover of hospitality, a lover of good men, sober, just, holy, temperate;
9 holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers.
10 For there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers,
11 whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucre’s sake.

"[T]he opinion which gives to the judges the right to decide what laws are constitutional and what not, not only for themselves, in their, own sphere of action, but for the Legislature and Executive also in their spheres, would make the Judiciary a despotic branch."

--Thomas Jefferson, letter to Abigail Adams, 11 September 1804

by Wild Weasel on Jun 9, 2009 10:57 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Sports Illustrated

I despise SI, but the piece on Brooks is excellent.

by Ken Howlett on Jun 9, 2009 10:58 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Floyd

I will be watching to see what if any reactions build to the frenzy of the past few weeks over the Tim Floyd $1,000.00 story. My bet…it won’t even come close to finding as many outlets or reporters…certainly not on ESPN.

by CAWebb on Jun 9, 2009 11:02 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Floyd's resignation is the lead story on ESPN.com ...

… and they mention the alleged $1,000 “donation” in the first sentence.

by Ken Howlett on Jun 9, 2009 11:19 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

etc

i should have been more clear. I read the story at ESPN…my "beef’ is what follows. The feeding frenzy of all things Cal has just gotten to my last nerve with that page and the likes of Pat Forde. .The basketball headlines are still carrying a June 5 story re Dozier/SAT and the June 6 story of NCAA/Memphis.

Again I am interested in seeing what followup happens with this story…not just at ESPN but on the pages that have so focused on the Memphis/Coach Cal stories.

by CAWebb on Jun 9, 2009 11:33 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

You beat me to the punch

I was sitting down to write to you that I didn’t intend my reply to you to seem so terse.

Your point is well made, and I agree, I was just relating that the Floyd story was being reported.

I talked to a good friend of mine tonight (he’s a HUGE UK fan), and he’s “sick and tired” of the overly negative treatment that Cal has received from the national guys, also. I mean, he’s really upset. And I have to admit that it gets old, but I’ve finally decided to ignore the garbage (unless its Pat Forde).

I doubt the Floyd story will get the same tenor in coverage that Cal has received, or the length of interest. I think that at this point I can safely say that dealing with negative media is simply a part of life for a UK fan. As Tru is so fond of saying, “embrace the hate.” And I might add, and hang the banners!

What gets me about Forde is the fact that he’s been my favorite sports writer for over 15 years now. But he’s allowing his long-standing anti-Calipari attitude to color his opinion. That’s disappointing to me. I expect some of the other bone-heads to offer up lame, dogmatic, nonsensical columns condemning that which they hate, but I expect more from Forde (along with a few others).

by Ken Howlett on Jun 9, 2009 11:50 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

more etc

i did not think your response was terse. I was not as clear as I should have been.

I agree. I have read Mr. Forde for a long time…and I am a member of the page to follow the Insider stories. I certainly do not know Mr. Forde but some of this seems…from this distance of course…to be connected to the Pitino book time frame. I think maybe he had/has conflicts. I think maybe he had/has somehow crossed his own lines as a reporter. I think maybe he had/has changed his image as a “serious reporter”. I would not buy the book but did check it out of the library. I was not impressed with the information and the overall tone was very supportive of Pitino. He did not have to write an negative book but the information in the book is just ordinary…mostly already public information. Coach Pitino is certainly a great coach but he is more complicated than Mr. Forde put forth.

Anyway I just do not read him in the same manner any more. I think he makes his points in a negative manner and he seems to have an anti=Kentucky agenda.

I follow the bb team primarily but I have enjoyed the new football tryout postings. I find the inside information on the attempt to make an NFL team quite interesting. Thanks for your efforts with this.

To wrap up these ramblings I shall try harder to follow my new motto… as offered by Tru…embrace the hate. .

by CAWebb on Jun 10, 2009 12:17 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Media Needs Integrity

Readable and agreeable piece from Keith Bays.

--Thomas Jefferson, letter to Abigail Adams, 11 September 1804

by Wild Weasel on Jun 10, 2009 12:27 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Pratt: Calipari Right For UK

Mike Prattsays he, Todd and Barnhart were fully aware of Memphis investigation.

--Thomas Jefferson, letter to Abigail Adams, 11 September 1804

by Wild Weasel on Jun 10, 2009 12:31 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Thank Goodness Pratt Was The Key Man On Search Committee THIS Time

Barnhart recognized his mistake(s) in 2007. Pratt fixed them in 2009.

by FortyYearCatFan on Jun 10, 2009 2:13 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

FortyYear...

The repeated jabs at WW are not warranted. He is a respected member of this blog so please stop now!

by kykat51 on Jun 10, 2009 10:39 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Mitch Admitted It Was HIS Fault

Pratt is the reason why UK hired an elite coach this time.

by FortyYearCatFan on Jun 11, 2009 6:06 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

At this time in the BBN

We all must “embrace the hate”. It’s not going to stop with some of the writers out there…I see it going for many years.

by kykat51 on Jun 10, 2009 12:44 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

As Tru says it looks like UK fans will hopefully trade wins for insults and hate. Get Ready...

I am looking forward to the wins:)

by blue oregon on Jun 10, 2009 9:18 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Calipari could sacrifice a baby seal at mid court during Big Blue Madness...

and as long as he’s winning 20+ games per season, I will forgive him.

by BlueInNash on Jun 10, 2009 2:37 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I am going to amend that just a bit Blue.....25+ games....lol

and it will have to be an adult seal or my girls will cry….lol….my apologies if we offended any animal rights activists….ABC

Remember, we're having fun now!!!

by ALLBLUCAT on Jun 10, 2009 2:40 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Shapiro't article rubbed me the wrong way

He berates “homer” announcers and such then denounces his local stations for only airing national sports programs while ignoring local sports. So sports announcers can’t be homers but the stations should be?

I disagreed almost point by point with this article. For national broadcast I agree the announcers should keep their fandom in check, the list of violators is well known; but, give me a homer announcer for my teams – I want to hear someone cheer and grimace with me through the course of a game.

Shapiro also takes exception to sports announcers endorsing products on TV by saying Scott van Pelt shouldn’t be hawking golf balls because “Television anchors and reporters don’t endorse products on the air. Ever see Tom Brokaw, Katie Couric or Britt Hume, among many others, do commercials?”. Hmmm…. that’s quite a stretch for a comparison.

Next, pre-game NBA show is too long. Solution: buy a watch and tune in at tip-off.

He does get the LPGA Tourney only available on cable as bad thing; but then goes on to chastise ABC (over the air) for rebroadcasting Belmont segments that had already been shown on ESPN (cable).

He’s done better work than this.

by hoboat33 on Jun 10, 2009 1:15 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Agreed

The whole article comes across as too “grumpy.” Sports, no matter how much we may care about them, are not the same as the news. I think too many sports reporters (perhaps as a way to conflate their own importance?) take themselves and their subject way too seriously. There is arguably a place for investigative, impartial sports journalism (Fairanu-Wada, et al.) But broadcasting a game, or reporting scores, is fundamentally an entertainment broadcast. It should be treated as such, and judged as such. And homers make the game experience better for the majority of local fans.

But I will agree with him on his broader point that Rob Dibble sucks as a broadcaster. I watched the Reds/Nats game via the Washington feed last night (on MLB Extra Innings, still one of the greatest inventions of the 21st century), and it was PAINFUL to listen to him.

Plus, I thought the Kenny Mayne / Chip Woolley segment was somewhat amusing. I mean, there’s a lot of time to kill between races, so I think one might need to grade on a curve. . .

The King is dead! Long live the King!

by NYCCats on Jun 10, 2009 8:49 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs